Life is Strange 2 developer talks new cast, world-building, visual upgrades

Earlier this month, Square Enix unveiled the successor to its striking graphic adventure game, Life is Strange 2. While exploring supernatural elements synonymous with the original, the game embarks on a new tale surrounding two brothers, Sean and Daniel. After a tragic event leaves the duo on the run, the narrative follows their journey beyond the U.S. west coast to United mexican states.

Life is Strange secured a unique position in the industry back in 2022, delivering a narrative built on widely-branching decisions and heavy themes. Exploring social issues rarely touched by games, the v-episode series farther legitimized the medium's storytelling capabilities. And now, moving from its high school setting, Life is Strange 2 promises an equally aggressive narrative.

With its first episode set for September 27, we sat downward with three members of its team, Dontnod Entertainment, to hash out what players tin expect.

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Matt Brown, Windows Fundamental: You stated that you wanted to move away from Max and Chloe's story for Life is Strange ii. What fabricated you decide on Sean and Daniel for the next affiliate?

Michel Koch, Dontnod co-game director: Information technology'southward mostly the way we are working together when we start to work on the project. The stiff theme nosotros wanted to bring to the histrion, in this example we realized quite chop-chop that it was the theme of education, of taking your approach or choice of item scene, and utilise information technology with a prepare of characters, where the character you are educating is always with you. And then the choices you make... most of the consequences are onto this new character that we have built.

Why Sean and Daniel? Once again when we're thinking of this theme, of education, of in that location beingness a father, child, brother, sister. At a point, there is a similar theme that appeared where maybe those ii boys, if they are on the run and they have the flee from somewhere, it can bring some very similar themes that we can talk nearly, and strengthen our master story near education. And it's a quite ongoing process until nosotros arrived at those two characters, setting their backstory, who they are, and where they're going. Taking this all together to tell this story.

How does developing a story around Sean and Daniel differ from Max and Chloe?

Michel Koch: I remember that ane of the differences in the structure is that nosotros are using the road motion picture structure since they are fleeing from Seattle to Mexico, where their begetter grew upward. The style to write the story is quite different, because nosotros are not in a fixed location with a fixed set of characters, that you can discover layer-past-layer over the course of five episodes.

It's more about them, the stories particularly, and the different locations, and the different characters that they will meet at different points of their journey. That they will get to know actually speedily, maybe bring something to them, maybe learn something from them. So nosotros have to move for a while and leave those characters behind, like y'all tin can see in road movies like "Into the Wild." There is a lot of fiction and movies that use this structure, and it's really interesting because it changes the way to write the relationships when yous have something more than intense, more than rapidly, with those characters.

But does that not crusade issues in developing character relationships?

Jean-Luc Cano, writer: Yes, of grade. You know, as Michel said, when we were in Arcadia Bay, we had the time to develop some characters, and make them reveal some secrets, and stuff like that. Now, yous are on the road, so you actually speedily decide if you can trust someone, then it will exist a challenge for the actor. And every bit for u.s.a., to create some characters that are intriguing, and say, "Do I want to trust him, considering I take to take care of my younger brother, and the consequences could be terrible if I'm wrong." So it will be a nice challenge I think for players.

In that location'south a supernatural element to the outset Life is Strange, also hinted at for this entry. Is this more of an environmental forcefulness, or are nosotros looking at powers again?

Jean-Luc Cano: In the first Life is Strange, Max had the power to rewind time, and information technology was linked to private weakness. She doesn't desire to abound upwardly, and so she had the power to come back in fourth dimension, and change her decisions. In Life is Foreign 2, there will be some supernatural stuff, there will be a power, and the ability is linked to the main story of Sean and Daniel, as the same way it was for Max. Only I tin't tell more now, the "more" is part of the story.

Are there any learnings from the original Life is Foreign that yous've taken forward for Life is Strange 2?

Michel Koch: We're able to talk about the feedback we take direct at the studio. [...] We effort to create believable characters and relatable characters. A lot of players put a lot of their ain memories into those characters, even if they are different from looks, gender, particular life choices and those kind of things.

We tried to create the story of the two brothers, and we hope that everyone will exist able to put themselves within. For instance, for Chris in Captain Spirit, we are not Daniel'south elder anymore, merely there'south some memories of our own babyhood. So here, the idea was to put the player in a difficult situation, when he has to take care of a younger brother. So to exercise that, and to do it the right way, nosotros wanted to change ourselves and make a new ally, and this is not something nosotros've created with the first Life is Strange. And in the kickoff Life is Strange, nosotros already tried to created Chloe, who could be seen as annoying sometimes, at the beginning of the game, and in the finish, effort to love her.

So here the idea was the aforementioned as Daniel. You can create someone believable, abrasive, a hurting in the ass, but the other way, very funny or very beautiful. So this is really something that nosotros wanted to continue and nosotros have learned a bit with Square [Enix]. Merely remember considering information technology's 3D characters in a story, we need to brand them experience realistic and experience like a real friend, or here a blood brother, and like a son for y'all, for the player. It'due south a bit challenging, but something we really wanted to continue.

With an on-the-road approach to Life is Strange 2, tin can nosotros expect variety in characters and locations?

Michel: Nosotros explained that the journeying is fleeing Seattle to trying to reach Mexico, then it's a large journeying over the west coast of the United States. And it immune to discover a lot of variation of environments and only also, of course, different social scenes based on where they are and dissimilar situations which are function of where they will go.

Then is there potential for famous real-world U.S. locations to feature in the game?

Raoul Barbet Dontnod co-game manager: The story is taking identify in our world, it'south fictional. Information technology's a fictional globe, only nosotros accept the same geographics. And then I think it will be interesting to talk about some states or parts of the The states, in a realistic way. Merely you too have to remember that those two brothers are chased, so they have to be hidden. So the idea about some of this project is to talk about the people who want to live [independent] of club, not to follow the rules. So yous will notice a lot of locations and I hope some characters and locations you're not used to seeing in games or fiction.

Michel Koch: Nosotros've documenting also a lot almost this sort of journey we're doing. Nosotros went to the United States and took a lot of pictures of different places. So definitely, we're trying to make information technology look as real as possible to those types of locations nosotros've been visiting. We are trying to find the correct mood and the impression that you're there, even if the "there" is not exactly a existent place.

Are the locations also significantly bigger? That was the impression from our press demo.

Michel Koch: Yeah, since the game takes place [on the go], there is this journeying on the run, so then we take make some places that are less populated. So we have some large spaces that immune us to give this feeling of big… and just for us, it needs to wait impressive. If y'all want those kids to feel like they're lost in the wood or lonely somewhere, we demand a identify to reverberate that. So nosotros've tried to have specially bigger environments which was important for the mood of those scenes.

Raoul Barbet: The idea is not to build also much, but as wide as possible to keep the narrative. We desire to go on the same level of interaction in the environments, so we become bigger, merely not too much to ensure it works, with Daniel, and players will find some stuff. We really want this to exist bigger than the first one, but not besides much.

You've touched on plans to bring visual upgrades to Life is Strange ii. What can we await from this? You lot've changed the engine entirely, correct?

Michel Koch: Yes. Nosotros did switch engine, we're now working on Unreal Engine 4, the first Life is Strange was Unreal [Engine] 3. And we wanted to go on the aforementioned fine art direction and use the same stylized visuals that could look like some impressionistic rendering.

But we really wanted to ameliorate nigh everything, so nosotros've been working on a new facial animation system. New lip sync, that is really improved by listening to the sound of what they're saying, so the lips move realistically to the sounds. And a little bit of control rig to really have the possibility to take real expression on the face of the characters. Nosotros've upgraded the overall physics and blitheness system, almost of the shaders and hair shaders, skin shaders, and I've seen a lot of other things for the foliage. We've really tried to upgrade parts of the game while all the same keeping the aforementioned theme and the same mood.

And so wrapping upward, is there anything you lot hope players volition take away from Life is Strange 2?

Michel: For sure, that players actually care well-nigh Daniel, and actually relish Sean about Daniel. If they play the game take their time with the flavor we accept with Daniel, I recall it could be a groovy success, because it will hateful they care well-nigh the human relationship of those two brothers, and that's the chief bulletin we accept with this game.

Your thoughts on Life is Foreign two

What are your thoughts on Life is Strange 2 and then far? Driblet into the comments section and let us know what y'all remember. In the meantime, preorders for the consummate season are at present live, priced at $40. The game's commencement episiode is currently ready to launch on September 27, 2022.

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